In recent years, a movement has gained traction to replace incandescent light bulbs with lighting fixtures that employ more efficient lighting technologies as well as to replace relatively efficient fluorescent lighting fixtures with lighting technologies that produce a more pleasing, natural light. One such technology that shows tremendous promise employs light emitting diodes (LEDs). Compared with incandescent bulbs, LED-based fixtures are much more efficient at converting electrical energy into light and are longer lasting while producing light that is very natural. Compared with fluorescent lighting fixtures, LED-based fixtures are capable of producing light that is more natural and rendering colors more accurately. Unlike fluorescent lighting fixtures, LED-based fixtures are easily dimmed, turn on quickly, require less maintenance, and do not use mercury. As a result, lighting fixtures that employ LED technologies are replacing incandescent and fluorescent bulbs in residential, commercial, and industrial applications.
In many commercial and industrial applications, LED-based lighting fixtures are subjected to extreme environmental conditions. Users expect the LED-based lighting fixtures to meet or exceed the performance of the incandescent and fluorescent fixtures in all conditions, including extreme conditions. As such, there is continuing need to ensure that the LED-based lighting fixtures perform as well as their competitors throughout a broad range of environmental conditions.